Friday, 16 October 2009

The Gay Bed And Breakfast Of Terror

2007
Dir. Jaymes Thompson

Making their way to the biggest LGBT Festival of the year, five couples consisting of every gay and lesbian stereotype imaginable stop over at a creepy hotel for the night - unaware that the proprietor is a God-fearing homophobic Republican intent on whittling down their numbers. Mainly by feeding them to her cannibalistic mutant son Manfred...

To call The Gay Bed And Breakfast Of Terror 'trash' would be stating the obvious. This is not a subtle film. It is cheap, exploitative and more than happy to wallow in its own mire of perverse charm. The title alone should alert you to what to expect, really! Which in a nutshell is Mommie Dearest-theatrics, George Bush-baiting jokes, complete irreverence and the deployment of every gay stereotype to increasingly hysterical effect. Kind of fun in a schlocky, dreadful kind of way.

2 comments:

James: If you're going to go camp, don't piss around. Go CAMP. I want to see this film simply because it seems (by your very clear, concise review - not being paid by the word on this one, eh, James?) that it seeks to do one thing and do it completely: Fun trash, right? -- Mykal

Indeed Mykal. Though I felt it could have been MUCH trashier! Then again, perhaps I'm just a sick puppy. Would love to read your thoughts on this one when you get a chance to see it, Mykal. Hope you are well and enjoying your weekend.

Behind the Couch is a term used as a humorous metaphor to describe the actions that a state of fear may drive someone to: for example, a young child hiding 'behind the couch' when watching a scary film or TV show. Its use generally evokes a feeling of nostalgia: safe fear in a domestic setting.

In the case of this blog, it also denotes the reviewer hiding behind the couch in shame, due to the huge amount of trashy horror films he watches...

'The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.'

H.P. Lovecraft

'Like one, that on a lonesome roadDoth walk in fear and dread,And having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.'

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

'A shudder through the silence creptAnd death athwart the noonlight swept…Graves closed round my path of life,The beautiful had fled;Pale shadows wandered by my side,And whispered of the dead.'

Sarah Helen Whitman

'We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.'

Stephen King

'Human beings are the only living creatures endowed with a full awareness of their own mortality.'

Alex Lickerman, Buddhist Physician

'A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night.'